Another shooter acquitted after shooting a child.

[mwrguy]

Another child gunned down by a responsible gun owner.

Not guilty: The verdict in the manslaughter trial of Roderick Scott. After more than 19 hours of deliberations over two days, a jury acquitted the Greece man in the shooting death of Christopher Cervini, 17, last April.

Cervini's family members say justice wasn't served. They say Christopher was murdered in cold blood, that he'd never been in trouble and Scott acted as judge, jury and executioner.

"The message is that we can all go out and get guns and feel anybody that we feel is threatening us and lie about the fact,” said Jim Cervini, Christopher’s father. “My son never threatened anybody. He was a gentle child, his nature was gentle, he was a good person and he was never, ever arrested for anything, and has never been in trouble. He was 16 years and four months old, and he was slaughtered."

Scott says he acted in self defense when he confronted Cervini and two others saying they were stealing from neighbors cars. He told them he had a gun and ordered them to freeze and wait for police.

Scott says he shot Cervini twice when the victim charged toward him yelling he was going to get Scott.

"How can this happen to a beautiful, sweet child like that?” asked Cervini’s aunt Carol Cervini. “All he wanted to do was go home. And then for them to say, he was saying, 'Please don't kill me. I'm just a kid,' and he just kept on shooting him."

Scott says the first thing he was going to do was go home and get a good night sleep.

http://rochester.ynn.com/content/top_stories/490926/jury-finds-roderick-scott-not-guilty/

[upaloopa]

1. Having a gun makes these cowards feel tough.

Without the gun this kid would be alive. Without the gun Trayvon would be alive.
These shits wouldn't think of taking on these kids if they didn't carry a gun.
The gunner mentality is just sick and we need to stop these killings.

[Tx4obama]

2. And a shooter that was found 'guilty' after shooting a child

Wis. man, 76, guilty in fatal shooting of teen

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014540276

[JI7]

3. these things are not worth taking someone's life, why not get a camera and record it

take pics or whatever so you can show it to the police and public .

[noiretextatique]

4. the circumstances are different...but

i have a problem with people taking the law into their own hands. he should have just called the police. i think he should have been convicted of manslaughter.

[Jenoch]

5. Why was this story and trial not front page news?

I keep up with national news and I know I did not hear about this story. Why wasn't this shooting and subsequent trial turned into a trial about race? I don't understand this at all.

(The shooter was an adult black man and the shooting victim was a caucasian 16-year old.)

[Dreamer Tatum]

7. You answered your own question nt

[onenote]

11. are you suggesting its typically not a big deal when a black man shoots a white teen

I would think more often than not it would be. And more typically, its not considered a big deal when a white guy with gun kills a black teen. I view the Trayvon Martin case as the exception to the rule and only because people outraged by what happened to Trayvon forced the media to pay attention.

[marshall]

28. It's not a big deal to the media

All such events are life changing and all important to the people involved, and they are certainly critical lessons to anyone interested in the issues involved. But the media is only interested in ratings, and that means piling on the next big story.

[noiretextatique]

8. he caught them in the act of vandalizing or stealing from cars

having said that, i think he also should have been convicted.

[Jenoch]

14. I am a gun owner.

I am not a CCW holder. I do not believe anyone with a CCW should use that as an opportunity to solve property crime. If ANYONE sees a property crime in progress, call the cops and let them handle it.

If however, someone with a CCW sees an assault in progress and knows for sure what the situation is, then they have to decide whether or not to get involved, and get involved with their gun.

In Minnesota, to get a CCW requires extensive classroom education and training with a handgun. I am told that about 1/2 the classroom education is the instructor telling the people taking the class about the huge can of shit they will stir if they even take their gun out of their holster or waist band.

[onenote]

16. He didn't use the gun to stop a property crime. He used it stop an assault

At least that is what the jury apparently concluded.

[Jenoch]

30. He intervened in a property crime

while he was armed with a gun. I don't think he should have done that.

[onenote]

38. I wouldn't have done it. But he had a legal right to do so.

[JustAnotherGen]

20. Considering the jury

Came to its decision in 2010 . . .

[Jenoch]

31. "Considering the jury came to its decision in 2010..."

What?

[JustAnotherGen]

35. This is an old case by DU standards

Me thinks the OP went digging. . Spoke with my mom. It was BIG deal when it happened back home. Huge!

[Jenoch]

36. You helped to make my point.

It was a big deal in New York. It was not a nation wide story like the Zimmerman case.

[JustAnotherGen]

6. I lived in that suburb

From Oct 1998 until Feb 2004. The Greece Polce are extremely responsive and highly visible in the community. There was absolutely NO reason for him to not call 911 and confront Cervini.

He should have kept his ass in his house!

Now - granted this was back in 2009. And yes - my dad used to roll eyes, sigh, and tell me he had to turn on Channel 13 to get the body count . . . But once you drive past Lyell Ave on 390 heading North - it was and remains a sea of difference from the city.

And the Attorney he hired was Parinello. That's the Johnny Cochrane of Rochester.

[noiretextatique]

9. i agree

he should have just called the police.

[Zoeisright]

10. If that was my family member, Scott

would never have a peaceful day, let alone night, in his entire life.

[onenote]

15. Your family member who was drunk, stoned, breaking into cars and had a history of violence?

Sure, it generally is better for people to rely on the cops and that's the decision I generally would make. But I'm not a black man who might reasonably think the cops would be willing or able to respond quickly enough to his call. (It was 3 am and Scott testified, and his testimony was not contradicted by another testimony to the best of my knowledge, that he didn't call the police because he lives in an out of the way part of the community and by the time the cops showed up the guys breaking into his car would have gotten away).

[JustAnotherGen]

17. They would

My brother was mugged at Greece Ridge mall at Christmas time and true to form - the Greece Police were there when he called - and respectful.


When a guy peeped in my French Doors - the same.

I'm trying to figure out where this "out of the way" in Greece is? There is no "out of the way" in that town. There are three major roads: Ridge, Latta, and Long Pond. When I lived there - we voted for Forever Wild Zones to slow down the crazy development.

[galileoreloaded]

34. try "Zoeisvigilante" for more zing. nt

[Rex]

12. Having a gun in America, means you can kill someone and possibly

get away with it. More and more, America is proving that crime DOES pay.

[dkf]

13. His defense was that there were 3 people about to attack him.

That does sound dangerous. They were committing criminal violations and were on drugs so yes they were a threat.

Not sure I can argue with this.

[JustAnotherGen]

18. He should have stayed in his house

Heres a pro gun and pro self defense page on the case:

http://themartialist.net/?p=306
Having lived in the safe town of Greece - I do not believed for one minute that the Police would not have shown up in a reasonable amount of time.

The car broken into was across the street. He was in house, sleeping, woken up - he left his home to confront them.

Sort of like Georgie hauling his ass out of his car.

[dkf]

21. But once he was out there, which was perfectly legal, he had a right to stay alive.

[JustAnotherGen]

26. C'moooon

You've GOT to be kidding me? You gotta gotta!

He went outside to kill some kids. Case closed. If he had called the Greece police - they would have been there toute suite.

Try and defend him alllllll you want dfk - that's your right. And none of your passive aggressive nonsense about "I didn't mean to.". I'm not buying it. He lived in Greece NY. Not the ghetto.

This is not the Bronx. It is six hours away by car and is the place to live if you have a boat.

[dionysus]

24. i almost got sideswiped by two of greece's finest going through a green light

I had the green and they were hauling up maiden doing about 80... lights, no sirens, blew the red... luckily I stopped in the nick of time.

of course after they blew by me the sirens went on... oi!

but I can confirm they get to wherever they're going quickly

Edit: I was coming back from the wegs on mt read.

[JustAnotherGen]

29. Yeah

Its so boring when ANYTHING happens it's pure excitement for them!

Now if you own kiddie quads (40 cc) and your stepchildren are riding them in the Cul De Sac because their father is on a business trip to Chicago - and Hunny doesn't say"boo" to you about anything . . . Them showing up pretty damn quick is a blessing. Sorry they side swiped you because D. C. Knew he could kill me with cute - but not the neighbors.

[dionysus]

19. thats my town!

sigh

[JustAnotherGen]

23. Get out!

I used to live off of Long Pond on Delacourt Circle. The development that is just a few yards down from the Town Hall - near Wegmans.

[dionysus]

25. well, charlotte actually but close enough!

[JustAnotherGen]

27. Cool!

Many a summer night spent there drinking purple hooters and white merlot! Will you please tell these people that Greece is not the mean streets ofthe city! You have a bigger problem at Lake Shore Ice rink with Hockey Moms throwing fists than you will ever have violent hoodlums running around terrorizing Greece. Stand up for Charlotte!

[ileus]

22. More and more America is proving crimes doesn't pay.

I'm not sure how smart it was confronting 3 perps at once was such a smart choice, it would have been easy for something to have ended badly. I'm also up in the air over confronting people that are stealing items outside the home.

At least this guy didn't go hunting for trouble like Zippy.

[Hugabear]

32. Another case of putting the victim on trial

Apparently all you have to do is say the dead kid was committing a crime, and you're allowed to shoot them

[galileoreloaded]

33. sounds racist. nt

[kwolf68]

39. No...

Only whitey is capable of being racist murderous thug. The thing is the white kid didn't have some racial cottage industry waiting to jump into the limelight on his behalf like Martin did.

Both cases are fucked up.